“We Are Not Victims, But Overcomers”

One of the best things to come out of the Common Core State Standards and all of the related “reforms” it is tied to is that it reminds us who is responsible for our children’s education.

We are. Not them. Us.

Only when you embrace this truth can you realize that your child is never stuck receiving a sub par education. Regardless of what education reform is foisted, regardless of how little our elected officials listen to us, and no matter where we live. We are not stuck. We are not victims. There is always hope.

I finished Joy Pullmann’s book Education Invasion: How Common Core Fights Parents for Control of American Kids this weekend. After reading that book, and just what we’ve experienced over the last seven years with Common Core infiltrating our schools, over testing, rebranding efforts, data grabs, and a faulty piece of federal legislation that our elected officials pat themselves on the back over it is easy to become cynical. It would be easy to give up.

I appreciate how Joy reminds us there is always hope and as parents, we are NEVER without options. She writes:

We are not victims, but overcomers.

We can pick up our pens and keyboards to demand political redress and promote cultural remedies. We can refuse to let our kids take tests that perpetuate a failed system of education. We can show up at public meetings to voice our dissent for the record, and to support and inform our neighbors. We can even create better schools than those our government provides.

Common Core maintains its hold on our children only if we let it. No politician or bureaucrat can stop you from taking a part-time job to cover private tuition, or quitting a job to homeschool, or sitting every night with your children or grandchildren to read some classic books together, or starting a charter school like the parents who created Ridgeview, or whatever other solution you can think up to make a good life for your family.

My wife and I, fortunately, decided long before Common Core that we would home educate our children. Our youngest of three kids will be a senior this year, and we do not regret the sacrifice. I know many of you have made sacrifices as well and feel the same.

Joy is right. We are not victims. We are overcomers. We will take charge of our kids’ education and we do not have to wait for change to happen at the state or federal level to do that.

Comments

I can’t believe I fully supported my town’s school district for nine years without being aware of the grab for our nation’s youth by the Federal Government. (My fault for being so ignorant.) I wasn’t aware of Common Core until two years after it was adopted by my state!! If I were just starting out or had to do it over, I would SERIOUSLY seek an alternative. It’s obvious that the grab for our kids is far from over and “learning years” can’t be put ‘on hold.’

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